Focus 2.0 Tdci Intermittent Starting Issue

[cobalt01]

Egr cost me 650 or so its just over 400 for part it replace it :-( now if had petrol car only 100 for part

[Johnny Men]

Hi guys,

thank you all for the info and pointers so far - will let you know how I progress.

John

[RobK]

Hi John

As promised some pictures to show the location. Hopefully in sequence they're quite easy to follow.

For full sized pics click here.

Good luck!

Rob

[Johnny Men]

Hi Rob,

That's brilliant - thank you so much, really appreciate it - I'll try and take a look tomorrow - weather permitting, but in the meantime I now know which one to squeeze if it occurs before i've had a chance to take it apart.

Thanks again

John

[Johnny Men]

Latest update, many thanks to Rob for the photos that helped me to locate the turbo pipe and anti shudder valve to inspect.

Removed said pipe, found traces of oil at the top of the pipe and bottom of the valve assembly - is that normal?

Cleaned it all up, fiddled with the butterfly valve, it felt a bit stiff, but not stuck, it seems like a strong spring, but not sure how easy it should be to move. I gave it a quick squirt of brake cleaner on the pivot point, re-cleaned and re-assembled.

Now I just have to wait and see if it's made any difference......either way i'll be checking it again soon to see if the oil has returned.

Appreciate any thoughts on the oil front.

Thanks

John

[RobK]

Hi John

Glad they helped.

As for the oil that's to be expected so nothing to worry about there.

Rob

[Johnny Men]

Phew! Just the original issue to worry about then ;-)

John

[Johnny Men]

Thought I'd post an update, since cleaning the valve body as described above, touch wood, I've not had any issues since.

One, very happy man :-)

Thanks to all that helped

John

[nazsky786]

Where is this so called valve? Is its name a pcv valve? Or is it something else. I've got same problemon a 1.6 petrol 2006.

[RobK]

John - glad to hear this seems to have solved it for you, and happy to know it's not just me to have experienced it!

Naz - it's called an anti shudder valve. If you give it a quick search you'll find quite a lot about it, but more often related to VAG cars. There are pictures of location on the previous page, but it's not something you'd find on a petrol car though (unless I'm very much mistaken).

Rob

[sambo87]

Does anyone know if this valve is on the 1.8 tdci engine as I had trouble starting mine and aa man though it was the egr valve stuck cheers Sam

[RobK]

Hi Sam

All diesel models should have this valve. Easiest thing is to look under the bonnet!

Rob

[sambo87]

Cheers rob will have a look at the weekend and prob give it a clean I have also fitted the egr blanking plate next mission is to have it remapped :-)

[SeasickJustice]

Thank you for posting here about your experiences. I bought a car (4 yrs used) on Sat and it broke down on Sunday. RAC couldn't get it started and it was taken to garage. Garage managed to get it started although intermittent starting problems as described by others here. No errors on diagnostics. Warranty wouldn't cover Main Dealer, garage couldn't find a solution and said only main dealer could fix it. Car Dealer did offer to pay Ford Dealer costs but it was completely impossible for me to get out of work to move car across.

Anyway, researched online and found this thread and asked garage to check out this butterfly valve on the air intake. They did and it I had a phone call from garage calling me a Superhero. They tried cleaning it but that didnt make much of a difference so they replaced the valve. Problem sorted!

Thank you for sharing this information.

[supercmaxer]

Old post I know but I'm having the same problem.

I have cleaned the throttle body although it wasn't that dirty it did get stuck a few times when pushed closed, is there any way of testing this on the car to see if it closes correctly or closes at all.

I have a focus c max 2.0tdci.

[SeasickJustice]

You should try undoing the jubilee clip and disconnecting the fat hose and have someone else start the car a few times and watch the flap. It should o ly close while the engine shuts off. If it sticks, that's your prolem. Good luck.

[supercmaxer]

You should try undoing the jubilee clip and disconnecting the fat hose and have someone else start the car a few times and watch the flap. It should o ly close while the engine shuts off. If it sticks, that's your prolem. Good luck.

I'll give that a go.

Thanks.

Anyone know the cost of the new valve?

[supercmaxer]

On the pictures on previous page, just below the dip stick is a cap with a pipe coming from it I Beileve it to be the turbo pressure pipe, underneath that is also another cap, can anyone tell me if there is a pipe connected to this??

Thanks.

[Jimofthejungle]

I wonder if anyone can help.

I've read through this thread and am pretty sure I'm experiencing the same issues - unpredictably intermittent starting problem, runs fine and efficient otherwise, no fault codes and local garage have no idea (although swapped the battery thinking that was the issue).

So next time it wont start I was hopefully planning on a little self diagnosis and following the instructions posted.

However, first I'm pretty useless at mechanics. And secondly my engine doesn't look much like the pictures (very helpfully) posted by Rob K.

Mine looks more like this http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/8008/p9280135.jpg

Are there any knowledgeable focus folk who can help me where to look about to locate the same pipe that leads to the anti stutter anti shudder valve so I can have a meddle?

Thanks in advance

[OllieC]

I own a 1.8 Focus Zetec S

Having a very similar issue to the OP. I've been in and out of the garage a few times now and besides replacing the battery leads they are unable to figure out what is wrong with it. Because the problem is so intermittent it never happens at the garage.

I have since been told that most independent garages diagnostic equipment only thoroughly check the ECU and as such it may be a sensor problem that might not be picked up by any diagnostics.

I think it may be a temperature sensor leading to an incorrect amount of fuel being pumped to the engine prior to starting. This may explain why the engine always starts for me on a 2nd attempt. The ECU has shut off at a new outside temperature. The problem does seem to happen more often when there's been a temperature change of more than 6/7 degrees between turning the car off and starting it up again.

This is just me thinking out loud, I am still planning on taking the car to ford and getting them to check all the sensors separately.

Any info anyone else can offer is always appreciated.

[tapiiri]

Finally! I've had this same problem for a few years already, not so bad on summer, but this winter has been quite bad. Sometimes didn't start until 5th or 6th attempt. This morning I found this topic and it sounded just like my story. I removed the valve housing and it was clearly the fault, valve got stuck quite easily. I sanded and cleaned it, tried to get it stuck by hands and sanded more until it didn't stuck anymore. Thank you very much for this information, I always thought that there were air in thw fuel line causing problems, never thought of air intake blocked!

[brutus1966]

worked a treat on my mondeo 08 2.0 tdci thanks

[brutus1966]

some more picks

[supercmaxer]

Ok so it's well old thread but I still have the same problem and it's been diagnosed to a ported vacuum switch. There are two of these on the 2.0 tdci one that operates the egr sits in between the air box and pump and one that sits under the alternator, it's this one causing the problem. On the photos from previous pages to the right of the throttle housing there is a black pipe that goes down and under the throttle body this is the vacuum pipe that connects to this said switch when you switch off the anti shudder valve should close mine isn't and it's because I have no vacuum. The switch maybe called a vacuum pressure sensor and fords sell them for £108!!! Both the switches or sensors are the same and I have managed to locate them for £30-£45 of eBay.

If you can get a pressure gauge on the switch it may help.

[Dom85]

Hello,

I hope someone can help me. I purchased a 2007 ford Focus 1.8 TDCI from a local independent garage a few months back. It has had issues starting from cold (cold engine and cold morning), at first it would start on the second attempt and it gradually got worse.

It seems to only be an issue in the morning, the earlier and I suppose colder, the less likely it is to start. Once it starts it will start fine all day. It's also more likely to start in the morning if it's been run late the night before.

I returned the car back to the garage who have had it in / out of their workshop for the past month, they don't seem to be able to diagnose the problem. It's also been to a ford dealer and they can't find anything either. Part of the problem being that the garage don't open until 9AM and by the point it usually works so the garage didn't ever see the fault in action, they did have a ford electrican take a look and he said allw as looking fine but he updated the software or something.

The garage have just fitted a new fuel pump but this didn't appear to have any effect on the problem. After reading about the issue online, we cleaned the intake air sensor as it appeared to be dirty with oil etc.

This led to the car starting perfectly for 3 cold mornings (colder than prior mornings where it failed).

However today the car failed again this morning, after 15 minutes of trying it finaly fired when I put my foot on the gas at start up (This doesn't always work and was a last resort before I headed to the train station). A

I should probably return it to the garage to sort but I need the car for work and can't really afford to be without it for another week.

I took a video of the problem with my phone... I'm happy to take a day of work to try anything anyone can suggest. I'm getting pretty desperate with the colder mornings coming up.

Cheers